Kate Hudson

Kate Garry Hudson (born April 19, 1979) is an American film actress. She came to fame in 2000, after an Oscar-nominated role in the drama Almost Famous, and has since established herself as a Hollywood lead actress, starring in several successful films, including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Skeleton Key, and You, Me, and Dupree.

Hudson was born in Los Angeles to Bill Hudson (a singer, comedian and member of the Hudson Brothers) and the Academy Award-winning actress Goldie Hawn. Her maternal grandmother is of Hungarian Ashkenazi Jewish descent while her paternal grandmother was of Italian descent and her paternal grandfather's ancestry traces to 15th century England. Hudson was raised in the Jewish religion, though her family also practiced Buddhism.

Hudson's parents divorced eighteen months after her birth; she and her brother, actor Oliver Hudson, were raised in Colorado by her mother and her mother's long-time boyfriend, actor Kurt Russell. Hudson has stated that her biological father "doesn't know me from a hole in the wall", and that she considers her mother's partner, Kurt Russell, to be her father. Hudson has described her mother as "the woman that I've learned the most from, and who I look up to, who has conducted her life in a way that I can look up to". She has three half-siblings, Emily and Zachary Hudson, from her biological father's subsequent marriage to actress Cindy Williams, and Wyatt, from her mother's relationship with Kurt Russell. Her cousins are singers Sarah Hudson and David Esteves.

Hudson graduated from Crossroads, a performing school in Santa Monica, in 1997. She was accepted to New York University, but chose to pursue an acting career instead of attending.

Hudson turned down the part of Mary Jane Watson in the 2002 film version of Spider-Man, and instead starred in remake of the historical romance The Four Feathers, a film which was not well received by critics or audiences. Her next film, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, a romantic comedy, became a big success at the box office, grossing over $100 million after its February 2003 release. Hudson subsequently appeared in several romantic comedies, including Alex and Emma and Raising Helen; the films met with varying degrees of success.

In 2000, Hudson married Chris Robinson, the frontman for The Black Crowes. She has stated in an interview that their courtship was rather quick: having met him on a Thursday and then subsequently moving in with him on a Sunday. They married on New Year's eve in Aspen, Colorado.

She has also said that she does not enjoy watching herself on screen, specifying that she "gets cold... shakes and... sweats" when watching her performances for the first time.

In July 2006, Hudson sued the British version of the National Enquirer after they had stated that she has an eating disorder and described her as "painfully thin." Hudson said that the tabloid's actions were "completely inappropriate" and a "blatant lie," and specified her concern relating the impressions about weight that she feels the tabloid could have on young girls.